What are some potential pitfalls when using input types like "datetime" or "datetime-local" in HTML forms for PHP applications?

Potential pitfalls when using input types like "datetime" or "datetime-local" in HTML forms for PHP applications include issues with date/time formatting and timezone handling. To solve this, it is important to validate and sanitize the input data properly before processing it in PHP. Additionally, converting the date/time values to a consistent format and timezone can help avoid inconsistencies in the data.

// Example code snippet for validating and sanitizing datetime input
$date = isset($_POST['datetime']) ? $_POST['datetime'] : '';
$formatted_date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime($date));
$timezone = new DateTimeZone('UTC');
$datetime = new DateTime($formatted_date);
$datetime->setTimezone($timezone);
$final_date = $datetime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');